Running
by invisible0one
Summary: Running powerless from everyone's favorite fruitloop.
1. Chapter 1

_That awesome moment when your teacher pretty much says you can do a fanfiction for an English paper. :D_

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**_Running_**

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Two hours and fifty minutes gone, ten more minutes until he had his power back. Ten more minutes of running powerless on a strictly human plane. Running until he could fight was the only thing that would allow him to escape the lonely, bitter, old crazed up fruitloop hunting him down.

A root jumped out at him, causing him to trip. He tried to rely on his natural instincts to keep him upright, but the power he was so used to having at his fingertips was still out of commission and he fell flat on his face.

A cackle filled the air, the fruitloop was approaching fast and he still had another five minutes before he was in any condition to fight. He was back on his feet and running again within seconds, cursing himself for not keeping his human form in better shape. He wasn't used to moving so slowly. He knew he could fly at fifty times his current speed and run at at least double when he had his ghost half to give him a boost.

One minute left, he could do this. He just had to keep moving and ignore the burning in his legs and he could do this.

"There you are, Little Badger." The fruitloop appeared before him, a wicked smirk on his face. "Any last words?" At that moment, Danny felt his power rush back into existence.

"Actually, yeah. You might want to work on your timing there, Vlad." Danny released a blast from his hand and changed to his ghost form as Vlad was knocked back. He felt the power in his veins and knew he'd live to see another day, to face another challenge. little did he know that his mother had seen his transformation and learned the secret he'd fought so hard to keep.

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_I know, it's short, but I had to fit it on the front side of a single sheet of notebook paper. I'm honestly amazed I fit that much on there._

_I've yet to turn this in, so comments and critiques are highly encouraged! :D_

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_Invisible One_


	2. Chapter 2

_So, I had intially planned to leave the story as it was when the first part ended, then my English class exceeded my expectations and at least half of them recognized what show it was for when I read it out. Thus, a new, longer, addition was born! :D_

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The fruitloop flew off, deciding that this was a fight he could not win and would not lose. Maddie decided to let Danny return to normal before confronting him about what she saw. She knew it wasn't something she was meant to see, but she had still seen it. She waited a second before coming out from behind the tree to see her son looking rather sure of himself.

"Just where have you been?" She already knew his response would be a lie, but she figured she might as well ask him anyways.

"Oh, I just thought I'd take a walk."

"Alone? In the middle of the woods that are filled with who knows what? Without telling me you were leaving the campsite?" Danny realized just how deep a hole he'd just dug himself into and gave a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, sorry about that." His hand met the back of his neck, a nervous habit he'd picked up years ago.

"Do you want to tell me the truth, Danny?" No, no he most certainly did not.

"What is there to tell? I went for a walk, that's all." Maddie gave a frustrated huff. She knew one way to get this conversation on the road she wanted.

She turned her specter deflector down a few settings so that she wouldn't cause any real damage and abruptly grabbed Danny's arm. The shock it was causing was evident on Danny's face and Maddie hated to put her child in so much pain, but it had to be done if he was going to tell her the truth.

"If there is nothing to tell me, then why are you being shocked by something that should only work on ghosts?" He quickly recoiled as Maddie let his arm drop from her hand.

"I'm not dead, if that's what your thinking." Technically speaking, it was true. Danny was half-dead, but he wasn't fully _dead_ dead.

Maddie knew he was only telling the little half-truth because he was still fighting to keep his little secret, but she was intent on making him tell her what was going on. She sighed and went for a gentler approach.

"I know you're not fully dead. Danny, I saw." He visibly straightened at that and gave a shaky response.

"What are you talking about, mom?" Maddie nearly laughed at his display. She had thought his initial lie about going for a walk had been bad, but this was so poorly done it was almost comical.

She calmed herself and replied. "Danny, is there something you want to tell me?" Yes, he did want to tell her, but was it really safe to? Sure, even the clueless one could tell she probably already knew but that didn't really answer the question. Was it safe to tell her? Not just because she and his father were ghost hunters, but also because it might put her in the line of fire from all of his enemies.

"I can't tell you mom." He wasn't responding the way she was hoping this would go and finally decided to lay all her cards on the table.

"Danny, I saw you transform. I know who you are." His hand went back up to his neck and he shrunk a little to know he'd been careless enough to let her find out.

When it was clear he didn't know how to respond to that, she just went on. "Danny, how did this happen?"

"The portal did this to me when I turned it on. I was on the inside and I think you can figure it out from there."

"Why were you INSIDE the portal when you turned it on?!"

"In my defense, you and dad did manage to put the 'on' button on the inside of that thing." How'd they managed that, Maddie would never know. Wait, she probably did. Jack had probably read the schematics wrong at some point.

"Okay, I'll give you that one." But he was so getting a lab-safety lecture when they got home. "Who were you fighting earlier?"

Danny froze for a second, trying to figure out exactly how much he wanted to reveal. Sure, he would have loved to throw Vlad to the dogs, but he didn't feel comfortable spilling all of Vlad's secret.

"That was Plasmius, or the Wisconsin ghost as you and dad call him. I won't tell you who he is, but he's another halfa."

"I'm going to assume that halfa is a term for your situation?" Danny nodded in response. "How is there more than one? The only other portal in existence was the proto-portal and that was dismantled years ago after Vlad got ecto-acne. " She froze as all the pieces fell into place. "Masters is so dead for trying to lay a hand on my son!" In his defense, Danny hadn't really expected his mother to put the pieces together that easily.

"Mom, don't worry about it, I can handle myself. Vlad's just a lonely old guy who seriously needs to get a cat." Maddie cracked a smile at that, even she knew just how true that statement was.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" Danny wasn't really sure what he was expecting to get as an answer to that, he really just hoped she truly did accept him as much as she was appearing to.

"No, sweetie. Why would I be mad?" Hand, meet the back of Danny's neck, for the third time in the past ten minutes.

"It's just that I've lied about it for so long and you never did seem t appreciate Phantom." He cringed as he realized he probably should not have said that last bit. He quickly added on to that statement, hoping he hadn't messed up too badly. "It's not like I blame you for that or anything, hunting ghosts does kinda fill your job description."

Maddie bent down ever so slightly so that she was eye level with her son. "Danny, I'm not mad at you. It doesn't come as a surprise that you lied, you never really were given a chance to come clean about this without fearing for your safety." She gave him a small comforting smile. "Now, Vlad, on the other hand? Oh, he will not escape his next encounter with me fully intact." Danny smiled at that, and really did not doubt his mother's words. If there was one thing you did not mess with, it was one of Maddie Fenton's kids.

Vlad watched the entire encounter from afar. Close enough to see and hear what was going on, but far enough away that Daniel would not catch onto him. His mind was clouded as it finally hit him that he had now not only lost his dear Maddie as a love interest, but also as the half-friend she used to be. Vlad did not know whether to swear vengeance on his shattered heart, try to kill Jack again, or just leave and let them be. The third option seemed so far out of character for the man, that it was inevitably decided to try for the first two instead.

A single shot left his hand and hit Danny square in the chest as Maddie's face became overwhelmed with horror and worry for her one and only son.

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_I don't know whether I'm going to leave it there or give it a third part that actually ends with a sense of finality. It will probably depend on what grade I get back for the first part. :P (Yes, I know, my teacher has us read our stories out before actually grading them. Why, I'm not sure...)_

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_Invisible One_


End file.
